The Negotiating Committee is providing this update to the AMFA Membership at Southwest Airlines. This report is the only official authorized source of negotiating communications by the Committee.

We met with the Company in Dallas, Texas on Monday afternoon, October 3, 2016. This short session was focused on an off-the-record discussion surrounding how our scope language will apply as the Company transitions into the MAX maintenance program. Off-the-record discussions in bargaining are in no way secretive, but rather are designed to facilitate open discussion by having each side put their pens down and keyboards away so that the official record of bargaining is not muddied by conceptual discussions. Article 2, Scope is the most important article of our Collective Bargaining Agreement, and we must ensure we protect our work. We also understand that we may need to make minor modifications to Article 2, Scope to address the new MAX maintenance program.

Regardless of Company propaganda, the parties are not even remotely close to a position that would allow your Committee to consider bringing anything out for a vote of the membership. Please do not buy-in to the false accusations that the Negotiation Committee does not have your best interests in mind. This Committee will not leave behind the Maintenance Controllers or the Maintenance Trainers, with their fate to be determined at another date while we move forward with a select portion of the members covered by this Collective Bargaining Agreement. We will not risk safety and give back the entire Inspection Backfill language that we were forced to arbitrate three times to finally get the Company to honor. We will not allow a group of supervisors and managers the right to determine if they feel the need to send us on a field service – probably only when contract maintenance is not available. We will not agree to any language that does not afford you the quality of life you enjoy by day trading, and we will not agree to language that will limit your earnings potential with the Company by forcing you off the clock without pay on your regular shift.

We will also not bring a package out for a vote that does not address some of the major items we brought to these negotiations, including compensation enhancements, 401(k) enhancements, and a cap on our insurance premiums so that the wage enhancements we do achieve are not lost by raising insurance costs. There are even more items than these that will need to be agreed upon before we can present a responsible agreement to the membership for a vote – including a compensation package to make you whole for the many years you have worked without a raise.

Please remember that we are in mediation and are proceeding with a mediator who establishes the rules of our sessions. The mediator has established a guideline restricting observers, and she recently clarified that this rule also applies to potential sessions where she is not present. As always, do not hesitate to contact your representative if you have any questions.

The next scheduled sessions, which will include the mediator, are November 1–3, 2016; November 29, 2016; and December 6-8, 2016. All of these sessions are scheduled to occur in Dallas, TX.